All 2011 candidates want for the holidays is cash before Dec. 31

With the clock ticking down on 2010, candidates for 2011 are scrambling to start the new year with intimidating amounts in their campaign bank accounts.

The end-of-the-year fund-raising deadline for newly-announced 2011 candidates is Dec. 31. And they have until Jan. 5, 2011, to file their reports with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance. That will give Kentuckians a first glimpse into the candidates’ success at drumming up supporters and dollars that will be crucial for them to run ads and wage campaigns in the coming elections.

The impending deadline has led both Republican and Democratic campaigns, from those running for governor to auditor, to try different strategies to collect dollars before the ball drops on New Year’s Eve. Some are asking for specific amounts and

even sent out e-mail blasts to supporters on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

At the same time, Moffett has been holding a long-running “money bomb” fund-raiser that has asked for 500 people to donate $48 dollars by the end of the year to celebrate Moffett’s 48th birthday on Dec. 13.

The ticket of Moffett and state Rep. Mike Harmon are going up against the slate of state Senate President David Williams and Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer in the Republican primary.

Williams’ campaign used their Twitter account on Monday to ask for a $5 donation and sent an e-mail on Wednesday asking for any number of donations, while taking shots at current Gov. Steve Beshear, a Democrat.

Another Republican, Secretary of State candidate Bill Johnson, took to Facebook and Twitter on Tuesday asking for $11 donations.

Johnson’s campaign field director James Young said the amount is in honor of the election year, ’11. So far, no other Republicans or Democrats have filed in that race. The filing deadline for Republican and Democratic candidates in 2011 is Jan. 25.

The declared candidates for Auditor of Public Accounts, Democrat Adam Edelen and Republican John Kemper, are taking

different routes to collect cash before reporting deadline. Kemper held a fund-raising on Tuesday at the Talon Winery in Lexington, while Edelen sent an e-mail to supporters Sunday evening with a blanket request for a donation.

“Fund-raising is going well in a difficult economic climate created by a bloated, intrusive, non-responsive government bent on continued unsustainable overspending to the detriment of the hard working folks of Kentucky,” Kemper said.